Makeup style Spring 2015

Makeup style. I'm always totally out of season for makeup since my favorite part of it is slathering myself in tons of colors using more than 15 different products at a time. An healthy habit. But I though that as I leveled up in makeup recently (+3 charisma, +1 dexterity, -20 GP) I could show you my staple style for the season.

Yes, I shamelessly reuse pictures from my previous post. It's called recycling, ma'am, and it's good for the planet.

My eyebrows are never neat. Maybe I shouldn't be so cheap and actually buy an eyebrow crayon and setting gel ? Meh.
So a Kiko shop opened simultaneously next to my parent's and a few minutes away from my place. I heard the ringing bell of destiny calling me and decided to give it a try. Verdict : I love them. Packaging is super cheap and breakable because it's obviously were they cut the corner but the makeup in itself is way better than your regular "drugstore" makeup like the Sephora line. I find it comfortable, easy to use and not irritating at all. Everything is really pocket sized too, which can be nice if you travel a lot or want to swatch things but can be inconvenient if you tend to be product-fidel/lazy with shopping. They also carry konjac sponges. These things improved my skin so so much in a month span, it's nearly magic. I didn't try everything yet but I look forward to try the gel liner, a few eyeshadows and a mascara soon. For the moment I only tried skin related stuffs.

Not found of the natural style but it's always useful

Anyway, back to the topic. These day I use primers from Kiko, either the City Filter Primer SPF 50 or the Skin Tone corrector in Lilac since my skin is really yellow. I prime my eyes with Kiko's Eye primer and my lips with their neutral Lip base. Then I use my Bourjois L'infaillible stick corrector paired with L'Oréal Nude Magic eau de teint in 120 Pure ivory for a lighter look or Kiko Universal Fit hydrating foundation in 15 Warm beige for more coverage. I finally set it with my Bourjois Silk skin powder, but I feel like a loose powder would be better with the heavier foundation.
I then do my contour and blush with BHcosmetics's Glamourous Blush. I really need a countour-specific palette though.

For my eyes, I usually take three shades from my BHcosmetic BH Day & Night eyeshadow palette. For a natural style I take brown-ish pink, for my usual heavier style I mostly use purple-ish color palette. I do a cat-eye line with Sephora's basic liner in black (I need replacement for it, any idea ?) and apply a few coat of Bourjois Ultra volume Glamour Girl mascara which is not bad at all. I draw my eyebrows on with a beveled brush then thicken them a bit with appropriate eyeshadow.

For a natural look I let my lips untouched or with a slight tip of Bourjois Rose Millésime, for the heavier style I usually wear Revlon Black Cherry.

And we're done ! This is definitely an heavy makeup routine that I wouldn't be able to keep up with if my classes were early in the morning, but I'm having a lot of fun with it. Of course it's not natural at all, but who cares ? I like painting myself, it's really satisfying.

You read it all ? Kuddos, got a present for you :

Fly as hell, eh ? What can't you do with a bit of makeup ?

I hope you guys enjoyed this overly complicated post. See you soon !

Muggle-wear outfit recap

It's been a whiiiiile I didn't make an outfit post. I'm so so late on my schedule (yes I actually have a schedule, albeit a really confuse one), sorry !

These days I dress in black, black black and black, topped with a bit of black. Mostly. Spring colors, yay ! Also I got an Instagram account (@roseopaline) to force myself to take more outfit shots and to brag about my impeccable asian cooking skills.

Style point : Vivienne Westwood earrings !

Style point : awesome Cyberdog cap

Style point : extreme layering

Style point : elegant and mature styling

Style point : flowy feeling

style point : energic style thanks to short leather skirt and graphic crop top

Style point : slight echo of the asian theme with a cat eye makeup

Style point : alien fashion

Style point : full alien style with purple eyebrows

Style point : really relaxed yet elegant tsumugi kimono style

Style point : distressed look for a strega feel

Style point : elegant gothic style with straight hair and simple jewerly

Style point : sportsy but gothy

Style point : leg slimming shoes for an elongated heroine silhouette

Style point : decorative bra for see-through dress

Style point : large brim hat to balance large hips

Style point : man t-shirt and studded cap for  a rock and relaxed feel

Style point : leg-slimming overly high platform and short tunic for infinite legs

Style point : chinese dress as a pin-up staple

Pfew, so many clothes ! I wear too many long dresses these days, and it's not gonna stop anytime soon since I'm waiting for my first pair of Lita by Jeffrey Campbell, an other pair of stupidly high platform.
I though the style point thingy was funnier than just dumping tons of pictures without any comment. Dunno if it's of any interest.
I've been having tons of fun dressing up these days, especially with a more electro/sporty tinge. Pretty clothes keep me motivated to work out. I feel like all my weight loss really start to show, I'm really proud !

Meetups, more meetups

Hey guys ! I've been so so late to make my last posts, sorry.

The other day I went to a small Tea Party organised by my friend Camélia with lovely Li-li from the US.
We went at the Hyatt tea room, such a lovely place !

Japanese tea and legendary Angel cake from Ciel

Lovely Li-li, Camélia, Clarimonde, Myriam and Ercylla at my table

Too bad we were separated on two tables. My pictures do not do any justice to either the place or the wonderful people present that day !

Meleora, Peggy, Angélique, Camélia, Li-li, Chloé, Clarimonde, me, Myriam and Ercylla

The food was delicious although a bit light and the place was wonderful ! Totally going back for a tea another time.

I don't really know why but nearly all my pictures appears really white washed. The mix between natural and yellow light must have thrown the balance of the automatic setting off...

And here was my ootd :

Headdress : handmade
Blouse : Infanta
Jsk : Victorian Maiden
Shoes : Bodyline

Didn't have a necklace to match the outfit so I just made one with a ribbon and a Baby charm

Balancing out the poofy skirt with my lack of hair is proving to be a funny challenge and push me being more creative about my headgear choice.

This was a lot of fun ! Thank you guys for that awesome day out.

Even more recently we had a small hanami picnic with friends at the parc. The theme was "spring or asia" and I of course chose...Qi. Yep. Since I bought myself a modernised cheongsam a few weeks ago I couldn't resist the temptation. I should have practiced the knotting part though, my bow looks awful.

Handmade headdress + sakura kanzashi from Etsy.

It's super simple and unacessorised, but I honestly couldn't be bothered with a more OTT outfit just to sit on the grass for a few hours. The cord-like part is a japaese obijime supposed to figure the hanfu style sash.

How far away I'm staying from the group tho. Also dat hairstyle (thanks Sam for the picture)

Everyone crossed their kimono on the "dead" side, it was funny. I'm so glad everyone tried to thrift or sew something for wa-lolita, I really hope this is actually going to happen !

Thank you all my lovelies for the awesome time spent together, I can't wait to see you all again !

Shameless leg pictures and weight loss journey

Hey guys.  I lose weight. A bunch. Let's see that.

Summer 2014

Early 2015

 It's been a year now since I began my weight loss journey. Not really consciously though. I had not so much trouble with my body image apart from my familly telling me I looked fat (as always). I just kind of stopped eating for a bit out of sheer stress mostly due to school, then went along with it.

In early 2014 I was dangerously nearing the 70kg (at 159cm !) and felt really tight in my FR42 sized shorts. The thing is, every dresses kept fitting because I've never been over 67cm waist at my very largest. Between april and june 2014, by just controlling my calorie intake I dropped 5kg, just in time for Japan Expo.

Summer came, and I have the weird habit of not really eating when it's hot. It makes me dizzy, so I usually just drink a lot and eat water-filled fruits. Makes me feels lighter. I'm really not good at handling heat and I'm easily dehydrated.
It was apparently not efficient enough though. After coming back from my family trip in Thailand were I indulged myself with local cha num (thai style sweet tea) and a lot of fried rice, I stumbled across a few pictures of me, flabby arms and stretch marks everywhere.
Big wake up call.

I made a bunch of decision on my daily diet : unsweetened tea (I mostly drink "savory" tea now), less pastries, less milk (I need to drink whole milk for health reason but it's really fatty), no sugary bits.


After a few months eating only cherry tomatoes, carrots and cucumber (which is really a stupid thing to do, but that's basically my summer time regular diet) and almost turning into a turtle, I tried to make a few other changes.

 I consulted a ton of different forums, websites, books etc to try and control my calorie intake and my macro-nutriments according to my height, weigh and minimal daily "sport" (30min walk/day).

Sticky rice and green tea, the snack made in heaven

I freed myself from schedules and norms on my daily diet. It doesn't mean I'm constantly eating, it means I just don't follow the "rules". I wake up super early in the morning but my classes are at mid-day, so instead of taking a sugary breakfast and then a snack before going to class, I just make a savory brunch, have a snack in the middle of the afternoon and then I dine with my roommate.

Asian brunch with homemade Vietnam's emblematic pho

 I also reduced my portions, using small plates and avoiding pilling up food in it.
Finally I usually allow myself more or less a fat/sugary thing per day, could it be some pastries, cream-based recipes, a bubble tea, cheese etc. That way I don't feel forced to diet. I'm not in a diet. I'm just tweaking my habits around a bit.

Asian brunch with vegan take on a traditional Thai dish : stir fried veggies with cashew nuts

 Needless to say that as I always did, I cook at home to avoid unnecessary chemicals, fat and too much salt.
I found a good cop out to my sugary craves in asian cuisine, since they usually have a sweet'n'sour tinge to it. Otherwise, red pepper and carrots are really sugary and refreshing.
Also, since last year I walk a lot, everywhere I can, and sometimes go for solo day-long city tour usually lasting between four to seven hours.
I've also been adding a bit of stretching and yoga exercises routine for flexibility and I'm trying to come up with an efficient twice a week full body workout, but whether I'll be able to keep to it or not, time will tell.

 

At the end of the day I dropped 15kg, my waist is now around 58cm (just under 23inches), my taste buds are way finer than ever, I feel lighter and prettier and way less pudgy. Lately my legs have toned up a lot, even though they still retain their heavy top they're now way leaner. The only down side is that I dropped the baby face a bit, which I liked a lot, but since I'm orienting myself on a bit more goth style it's all good I suppose. Oh and since I dropped both in waist and bust, most of my lolita dresses are too big and I hate altering my clothes to an unexpected extend. But what's life eh ?

15 kg in less than a year. Yep. I'd like to lose a bit more on the leg area but that seems to be difficult. Forever thunder thighs I guess.

Your very definition of thunder thighs

Edit : after a two weeks of heavier workout (2x1h intense dance/week + 5x15min stretching/week) I can see direct effects on both my stamina and flexibility. I keep myself motivated with cute sport clothes. Way to go, me.

Wardrobe change and current obsessions

It's almost spring, yay !

These days I felt weighted down by a bunch of thing, so I decided to clean up my wardrobe a bit and make a list of what I needed. It's a pretty literal way to feel lighter.

I first started by airing out all my dresses, hanging them on the curtain-rod to take a good look at them.

I love this picture

skirts, blouses and tops

 I then choose the one I didn't wear enought and tried them on. A lot of these were actually too big from me loosing a bunch of weight last year, so I separated them into three piles "to give", "to sell" and "to use as fabric". A few things are going on sale on my facebook right now.

I already used an old silk dress as an accent fabric on the new bonnet I just finished. It's been a while I didn't go full crafty lolita, and that's the first bonnet I entirely made from scratch. I used cardboard, tape and wire as a basis and attached the fabric with a glue gun and some handstitching. Good enough for me, but not good enough to be sold imo. I'm bad with finitions.

Excuse the Instagram filter

Bonnet are my favourite lolita headwear but it's been an eternity I didn't wear one. I sold my Innocent World one some times ago, it was too childlish and wide fore me, and the straw one I made is at my parent's and most certainly need a little bit of revisiting. One or two Victorian Maiden bonnets in darker shades would be a nice addition  to my wardrobe.

I did a small list of what I needed next, both for my muggle wardrobe and my lolita one.
For lolita, I'd like to find an ouji outfit (I'm eyeing a few things on Bodyline since I'm too chub for brand), a white op, a black jsk and some more long-sleeved blouses. I also need to replace some of my shoes.

As spring is around the corner, my obsession for Natural-kei and aprons is taking away the best of me once again.

I have a reconstructed gingham apron dress waiting to be worn, but the under-dress I first made back when I was fifteen is not up to my standard of quality anymore. I need to re-do one and maybe complete the dress itself. It's been a few season I didn't wear it but I can't bring myself to let it go. It was one of my first lolita crafting project : turning my favourite summer dress in a lolita appropriate piece. Sadly, red gingham is a bit difficult to coordinate with something else than white, so my hopes lay in the form of a white onepiece. Also, finding the right gingham pattern to complete the dress proves to be near impossible, and I would rather avoid the Baby's way of doing everything satin or grosgrain.

Desperetly tried to find a not too unflatering picture 

I feel like this was overall a productive day. I've been pretty productive these days I must say.
I had my last day on the set, recording a super secret video. I cooked a lot. I practiced editing. I've been writing a few things too.  Better than lying in front of my laptop all day as I did previously, so this is pretty positive. Maybe spring is giving me my wings back again ?

If the weather is nice I'm soon gonna be able to start my photographic adventures in Paris. Now that I got a new SD card, this is gonna be good.

See you soon guys !

Meet ups

I feel like I have to astrain myself to post once a week for at least the few next monthes, or I'll have way too much things to say and will forget stuff...

Anyway, last saturday I was on a day out with darling Myriam and her friends Kourai, Aelin, Angélique and Peggy. Myriam was recording with TV Tokyo for a show about France, her segment was about Japan loving french people. We first met at Baby (I was sooo late, sorry once again girls ;_;) and took group pictures as well as some footage. I got interviewed, and answered all in japanese ! I was so stressed out my voice became super high pitched, I'm totally gonna look and sound stupid.

Kourai, Myriam, Angélique (did I mention her dress was handmade ? She is such and amazing seamstress !) and I

We then walked to Princess Crepe (it's a real lolita hq) and my feet were aching because I went with stupidly high heels despite Myriam's warning (I'm not a clever person ok ?). I was happy to have the occasion of talking a bit more to Aelin ! We've been in the same community for years and years, crossing each other multiple times and never really met, which is a shame. Sadly she had to leave earlier for work related reason, but what a pleasure chatting with her.

At Princess Crepe the lovely crew offered to pay for our crepes and we were soon joined by Loliz, who had a wonderfully soft and elegant outfit that day.

Loliz, Myriam, I, Peggy, Kourai and Angélique

Yummy princess crepe with vanilla ice cream, straberry, raspberry, cheesecake, whipped cream and chocolate sauce.

They then asked us who hasn't been in Japan yet, and the three of us who didn't had to say why did they want to go. I said that I wanted to learn more about folk culture and fashion in Japan. They filmed a bit more, then payed us good bye after gifting each of use a nice tenugi (japanese fabric handkerchief).
From my understanding, the show will be aired on 04/14 20:00 JPtime on TV Tokyo, so check it out !

After that, we went to Axes Femme.

Our adorable star of the day, so pretty !

 It was super funny hanging out with you all girls ! Can't wait to see how the show will look like ! (thanks Peggy for the group pictures)

My OOTD

On sunday I organized a tea-tasting meetup in one of my favourite tea place in the whole city : la Maison des Trois Thés, a chinese tea room specialised in Pu-er auctions. The place is downright gorgeous and so soothing ! It was quite an uncommon place for a tea party, but definitely a one of a kind experiment.

I warned before hand the guest that this was not your regular tea party, no cakes or cookies on the table and no sugar in your tea. Instead, the nice employees guide you through a menu of dozens and dozens of precious chinese tea, providing a tasting experiment tailored to your desires and perfectly accessible to non-experts.

250 years old chinese tea bowl

White jasmine tea

Gong fu cha for oolong

We were a table of eight and settled up for a jasmine white tea as a starter then two different oolong, a Ti Kuan Yin (roasted, heavy oolong with cerealy notes) for half the guest and a lighter, green oolong with at first a mimosa then a slight coconut and caramel after taste for the other half (Jin Shuan ?).

 The nice waitress demonstrated each type of infusion while explaining in details what happened and then assisted us in our first infusion. A second waitress was in charge of refilling the four heavy kettles and braseros of the table. They also had us try one of their limited series of Taiwanese fruit jam. It was litteraly to die for.

(thanks Sam for these two pictures)
Myriam, Sandra, I, Clarimonde, Ercylla, Sam, Caméllia and Chloé

After that we took a few outfit pictures in the Jardin des Plantes not so far, and we parted up. A few of us wanted to eat an Angel Cake at Ciel, but infortunaly they didn't have any room for us.

I'm really an anxious person so I tend to avoid organizing meets, but I had so much fun and everything went so smoothly I'm already working on a few new things. I'm trying to think outside of the box and avoid touristic spots/rehashed themes and places. I've got a few ideas already, need to proof-test them firstly though.

It was a super nice day thanks to you all gals ! I'm happy you enjoyed this place as much as I did and I look forward to see you all again <3